WATCH: Budj Bim Cultural Landscape

Did you know the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape in south west Victoria is home to one of the oldest aquaculture systems in the world?

Gunditjmara man and Cultural Landscape general manager Joey Saunders gave me a tour of the UNESCO World Heritage listed site, and shared the rich cultural history of Budj Bim and its traditional owners. 

The Budj Bim creation story for the Gunditjmara people describes the landscape itself as an ancestral creator-being. 

Budj Bim emerged from the earth as a volcano, what we now know as Mt Eccles, with the mountain as his forehead and the lava from its eruptions forming his "teeth". 

These eruptions, which occurred over 30,000 years ago, shaped the land and created the wetlands that enabled the Gunditjmara people to develop their ancient eel traps.  

For at least 6,600 years, the Gunditjmara people used this aquaculture system to harvest short-finned eels, or kooyang, caught in hand-woven baskets and cooked over fire or in smoking trees.

The Tae Rak Aquaculture Centre and Cafe opened and the cultural tours began in July 2022, and they give visitors an insight into the living culture, stories and the ongoing connection between people and Country.

While the landscape is home to all kinds of native birdlife and wildlife, this country was also once home to thousands of indigenous people from a diverse network of clan groups, and the evidence is everywhere you look, from the weirs and dams created by the indigenous to trap eels, to the stone houses at Kurtonij.